Charities

Volunteer Positions Open

MANZA Charity Committee (Casual, Part time)

The Charity Committee Coodinator is looking for volunteers to assist her in visitations to existing charities, sourcing and reviewing new charities seeking support, and writing short reviews/ reports/ interviews for the MANZA newsletter and website on the charity initiatives. This is not a regular or massive commitment, flexible as to your availability and interest levels.

Katie (MANZA VP) and Martha (Charities Coordinator) visited the Impian School (for Autistic and Down Syndrome students) to get an update on Vinothini’s progress since commencing school there in October 2017.

Thanks so much to the dinner club (and others) for your continued generosity in donations for Vinothini’s schooling.

Vinothini attends the school from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Thursday. She has almost perfect attendance and arrives on time every day. We were very impressed with the school, with the teachers and therapists that we met. There was a special session going on with volunteers from the University of Malaya Early Education Department who volunteer with Impian on a regular basis. The school is staffed by professionals, it appears to be very well run with a myriad of activities, classes and curriculum specifically designed for learning disabled and autistic children. Nila ( Program Coordinator and staff member Mrs John) shared Vinothini’s progress verbally and also gave us hard copies of her Individual Education Plan and Assessment reports. Here are a few examples of Vinothini’s progress: “Vinothini is able to perform activities with maximum assist, physical and verbal prompt. Marked improvement in gross motor skills and awareness in surrounding and engaged with environment compared with previous months.”

Progress Report Feb – April 2018. Nila and Mrs John indicated that she has made tremendous progress and showing independence in hand washing, taking on and off her clothes, drying herself after shower and cleaning herself after using the toilet.

Future Plan from School ‘Continue intervention with student while assessing on site performance and class performance while performing activities’

Thank you and note of appreciation

MANZA is a very active organization with several regular events during each month and then 3 large events each year: MANZA Ball, Melbourne Cup and MANZA Charity Bazaar. Attendees to all of our events give very generously throughout the year and MANZA is truly grateful for your contributions to our charities and also to everyone who volunteers their time and energy to make these events so successful.

And there are also many members who donate their expertise, goods, clothing and financial contributions to our charities on their own. This all goes along way in assisting these organizations to continue providing these critical services. These charities couldn’t deliver their services at the level they do this without you.

Melbourne Cup 2016 was highly successful and raised 12,600 MYR for our charities in 2017. For the MANZA Charity Bazaar ticket sales/door takings will also be donated directly to MANZA charities along with the proceeds from the MANZA stall takings (Trash & Treasure, Cake stall and Book stall) – for a total charitable donation of 17,800 MYR. MANZA gave 25 charities in all a free table at the Charity Bazaar to sell their goods.

Here is a description of our charities and updates on fundraising events. For more information on these charities, their web pages have been included.

Crown Relocations

Crown is a diamond sponsor and have been an invaluable support to MANZA each year. Of the many services they contribute, one of the most recent is our Charity Bazaar. MANZA receives so many kind donations of clothing, books, toys, and household items to be sold at our Trash & Treasure. These boxes are picked up from MANZA, delivered to Le Meridian and then any remaining boxes are picked up from Le Meridian, delivered back to MANZA. These items are then picked up by Community Recycle for Charity. MANZA is truly grateful for all of their hard work, professionalism and care they provide to us.

Visit to Al Ikhlas Rohingya School – Selayang Batu Caves

Tuesday January 24, 2017

By: Martha Maier MANZA Charities Coordinator

MANZA donated 5,000 MYR in December 2016 to the Chin Foundation Schools. That amount sponsors 10 children for books, shoes and food supplied by the school. On Tuesday Jan 24th I went to visit Al Ikhlas Rohingya School which is one of the CHIN Foundation funded schools and a United Nations registered education centre. The school founder is Mark Bayoud who is an Australian, a semi-retired consultant living in Malaysia. Al Ikhlas funding comes from by Lend a Hand Kl and some other donors.

Currently there are 120 students registered at the school for students aged 4 to 17 yrs. olds. The school facilities consist of 2 classrooms, white boards, a library, kitchen and a breakout room. Maeirah who is a PhD student is the lead education organizer, and volunteer for this school. It started as a tuition centre on Saturdays with volunteer tutors who donated their time and expertise to provide some schooling to the refugee students.

With the aid of community partners the Centre grew into a UNHCR recognized school offering classes Monday to Friday from 10 am to 1 pm. The students are divided into four different levels. While the kids in kindergarten involve in basic learning, the students in Level 1- Level 3 are taught Maths, English, Science and Bahasa Malay. There are 3 teachers who are Myanmar refugees themselves and therefore are able to conduct classes in the student’s native language as well as in English. Textbooks have also been donated by charities and there appear to be enough books for each student to have access to the textbooks. The student/teacher ratio is about 28 students to 1 teacher.Maeirah uses Saturdays to work with the teachers to design curriculum and resources for the upcoming week. On Saturdays the school is open from 10:30 to 12:30 and tuition classes for English and Maths are conducted by volunteers and lead by Maeirah and Hannah, who is a teacher by profession. The curriculum for school and Saturday sessions is designed by Maeirah and Hannah.

The teachers along with Maeirah and Hannah design the examinations and asses the student’s current levels to place them in the appropriate classes. Many of the classes have a wide range of ages. While some students, who are quick learners are waiting to get their admission in IDEAS Academy, 5 student who have progressed exceptionally well are already continuing their studies at secondary level.

Time to time, students are taken for picnic and various projects are conducted by different organizations, either at school or outside the school, involving activities such as games, sports, art and craft. Medical/dental checkups, psychology therapy sessions, vaccinations have been conducted to monitor the overall health of the students.

The centre is in excellent condition with new tables, chairs, whiteboards and vibrant murals throughout the rooms. One of their charity partners helped to renovate the space and provide cabinets for the library. The students live very close to the centre and so they are able to walk to the school. Transport is therefore not a problem and attendance is consistent.

The students were engaged, focussed, and on task on the day I visited and were extremely friendly and welcoming. The teachers appear very professional, passionate and dedicated. It was a pleasure to be able to visit the school and meet Maeirah, the teachers and the students.

Charity Organizations

The Reading Room and Transit Home Kajang – Susie Devaki

The Reading Room focuses on local children before and after school whose parents work or are marginalised in caring for them in some way. Children receive tuition, and a daily meal. Approximately 78 children receive these daily meals. Susie also runs a transit home for women and children who are victims of abuse. Over 30,000 MYR has been donated together, to the Reading Room and the Transit Home, The donated amount cove

the installation of a back fire exit, complete with an extra stairway and fire doors,

sewing courses for 10 women,

bridal courses of 10 women,

IT courses for 10 youths, who dropped out of school,

monthly grocery deliveries,

kitchen storage boxes and shelving,

musical instruments,

end of year trip to the KLCC Aquarium for the children from The Reading Room and the Transit Home.

Every year since 2012 MANZA has initiated and coordinated, collected and delivered items for a stationary drive at Australian International School of Malaysia. Students from AISM donate books, and stationery for the Reading Room library and Crown relocations generously packs up these boxes from AISM and delivers then to Susie’s reading Room on the last day of AISM school before he December holidays.

Along with the above, MANZA has donated children’s clothing, bedding, baby furniture; a washing machine was also donated to the Transit Home by one of our members. The Transit home 2 year funding from their sponsor came to a close and MANZA hwill help offset the cost of the rent for the Home for the short term ( approx. 6 mths) in order that Susie can find an appropriate long term funder.

The Happiness Centre in Melaka

HAPPINESS CENTRE is a safe haven for the intellectually and physically challenged children of Malacca. It currently houses about 35 children who all are physically or mentally disabled. Their ages range from 5 years to 34 years. They have 17 Chinese, 11 Malay and 7 Indian children. All of these special children are not able to fend for themselves, even for their most basic needs. 20 of them require pampers and 21 of them have to be fed. Most of these children have multiple disabilities ranging from cerebral palsy, polio paralysis, speech impairment blindness and mental disorders.

Since May 2015, MANZA has been paying this centre’s monthly electricity bills, which has been a huge help with the centre’s running costs that average to about RM 21,000 per month, The electricity bills have amounted to RM10,182.00.

Grase is the Project Manager of Women and Health Organization KL (WAKE); a refuge for children living with HIV, homeless HIV positive women and transgender people. Wake runs three different houses. Nine of the 12 children they support attend regular public school and two are attending college. The funds from the generous donations of the Dinner Club attendees go to sponsoring the therapy sessions for Vinothini. these are helping Vinothini immensely, and the little girl is improving with each month. Vinothini has down syndrome and requires and receives special care and attention and continues to thrive in the warm and caring environment of WAKE. This year MANZA has donated RM 2500 for Vinothini’s sessions.

MANZA has set aside 10,000 MYR to repair the WAKE van that transports Vinothini to her therapy sessions and all of the children and young adults at the homes to their activities and part time jobs.

The Irish Embassy recently donated from their residence several couches, chairs, beds, tables and appliances to WAKE and Grace is extremely grateful to the Irish Ambassador for his generosity. The furniture will be a wonderful addition to the children and adults of the homes for many years to come.

Rumah Hope is a charity MANZA has begun working with recently: it is an orphanage located in Petaling Jaya, housing 50 children. They provide health care, shelter, education, counselling and social interaction to physically, emotionally and psychologically scarred children. In the last few months MANZA has paid for some ceiling repair work, purchase of new mattresses, and provided storage for supplies. The total donations amounted to RM 4,600.10.

Kechara Soup Kitchen’s mission in the short term is to provide sustenance and basic medical care for the homeless and urban poor in Malaysia. In the medium term, they provide a soup kitchen building as a place of safety for the distribution of hot food and medical treatment facilities for the homeless.

Regular monthly 40 kg rice deliveries have been made by MANZA to the kitchen since April 2015. The total donations amount to RM 634. Currently MANZA is coordinating with their regular supplier to make monthly drop offs to the kitchen.

Tenanganita is an NGO that protects and promotes the rights of women and migrants and refugees. MANZA helped with their move to the new premises and provided sponsorship from a moving company who provided boxes, two trucks and a team of removalists. MANZA donated 1000RM to Tenaganita towards the SKIN project – a theatre project to raise awareness about the plight of human trafficking victims in Malaysia.